How Did Linda Sherman’s Car End Up Abandoned with Her Nowhere in Sight? | Forensic Files

The story I have for you today is one that for a long time would have fallen into our missing category. But a strange
discovery and a mysterious letter would reveal that this wife and mother didn't just disappear into [music] thin air.
And that truth begins to unravel a web of [music] stories that will make you wonder who we can trust.
This is the story of Linda Sherman. The official investigation into Linda Sherman's disappearance began on
Wednesday, April 24th, 1985. That's when her husband, Dawn, filed a report with police in St. Louis County,
Missouri, where he and Linda live. And he tells them he hasn't seen his 27-year-old wife since Monday night when
she left for work. >> And it's Wednesday now, >> right? Yeah. So he says he waited this
time because she's pieced out on him before and they've been having problems recently. He thinks that she's been
seeing another guy, one of her co-workers. So at first he thought maybe she just ran off with him. But even if
that's the case, he says that he's still really worried about her and he's already been checking with [music]
friends and family trying to find her. She hasn't even so much as called to check in on their 9-year-old daughter,
Patty. So, he gives police a playbyplay of the last day that he saw Linda. Now, Linda works nights at the National
Personnel Records Center, which is basically like this facility in St. Louis that stores US military and other
federal files. And Don says that Linda got home from work early Monday morning. So, this would have been around 3:00
a.m. They argued for a little bit, like probably like an hour, and then she went
to sleep on the living room couch. >> And what did they argue about? >> What took her so long to get home? So, I
guess the drive from the record center to their house on Monroe Avenue is like less than 10 minutes, but he says it
took her like 45 to get there. >> And he's already suspicious, right, that she's seeing someone else. So, I'm sure
he was just like there stewing waiting for her and like their fight probably started the second she walked in the
door, [music] >> right? >> Anyways, he does not work nights. He works days. So, he goes to bed after the
fight and a couple of hours later, she tries waking him up to go to work. He's too tired, you know, from all that like
staying up and stewing. So, he called in sick. He says that Linda drove Patty to
school that morning like she always did since he usually was at work by then. She would do drop offs and then Linda
was sleeping when he got up in the early afternoon and he woke her up, but she had drifted off again by the time that
he went to pick Patty up [music] from school. He says that he then dropped off Patty at his mother's house before going
to an hour-long counseling session with this woman who I'm going to call Dr. W. She's basically the therapist that he
and Linda have been seeing both individually and as a couple. >> Now, when he got home Monday evening
around 6:00, he says that Linda was there and she's agitated that she'd overslept. She had actually missed her
own counseling appointment and was running late for work. So, she's hustling out the door at around 6:45
p.m. And he says that is the last time he saw her. She's wearing blue jeans, tennis shoes, and a blue jersey with the
number 76 on it. She also had a necklace with the same number, which was her graduation year. He says she drove off
in her yellow 71 Volkswagen Beetle, presumably to start her shift. But, weirdly, [music]
that wasn't the last time he claims he saw her. Kind of. So, Don says that he went outside to talk to a neighbor at
around 8:00 p.m. And while they're standing there chatting, Linda's car pulled onto the street and then just
like left. And after that, Don says that he went to get something to eat. And then later that night, he called Linda
at work, but then was told she never came in. So, that's when he drove to her job and checked the parking lot for her
car that wasn't there. And when he got back and looked around the house, he noticed that some [music] of her things
were missing, like a suitcase and some toiletries and clothes and shoes. Hence why he thought that she maybe just like
left him on Monday. Now, the timeline gets murky here because the information that's available is limited. But we
pulled what we could through records requests from like multiple police agencies. And our reporter, Nina,
interviewed everyone she could get to. But still, what we don't know could fill a book. And I I'll get more into that
later, but I'm not sure how seriously the agency, the Venita Park Police Department, took [music] this at first.
But according to Riverfront Times reporter Laura Higgins, Linda's family begins their own search right away. And
two more days pass where they just get nothing. So by Friday, April 26th, Linda's sister and her brother-in-law,
so this is Fran and Sam Miller, they're starting to grow desperate. They feel like they've searched everywhere. And
that's when Don suggests that they check this hotel near the St. Louis Lambert International Airport. He's saying that
sometimes Linda stays there with her boyfriend. So, I mean, again, they'll do anything at this point. They go there.
Her car is not in the hotel parking lot. But when they come up empty there, they
figure like, "We're already out this way. We might as well have a look at the airport, too."
>> And lo and behold, they pull into the airport's short-term parking, and there
it is. Linda's yellow beetle. Now, nothing appears disturbed, but they don't want to go poking around, so they
call airport police to take over. Officers arrive and check the doors, which are locked, but the trunk isn't.
And as they lift it open, Fran and Sam brace themselves because as they told Unsolved Mysteries, there is this
sinking feeling in their stomachs that Linda's body is going to be inside. The trunk pops open and they breathe this
sigh of relief, even if it's just momentarily because she's not in there. But now they're also no closer to
figuring out where she actually [music] is. And here's where things get weird. While all of this is happening at the
airport, Dawn is over at a local 7-Eleven talking with a cop and he's asking if maybe police at the airport
can check there for Linda's car. an idea that he says Sam gave him, not the other
way around. >> Yeah. >> And literally as they're discussing this, dispatch radios the officer that
they found the missing woman's car at the airport. >> Well, isn't that convenience?
>> Yeah. And just in case you're not like fully sick of me bringing up that coroner's conference I went to, I'm just
going to do it like one more time because one of the things they covered were staged scenes
>> for legal reasons. Let me put a disclaimer. I'm not saying that this scene is stage, just sharing interesting
info that I found. But they said that a telltale sign of a stage scene oftent [music] times is that someone will lead
you to the evidence they want you to find. Like they think you're too stupid to piece it together on your own, so
they make it overly obvious like, oh, my wife is dead in her room and right here
in a place that no one keeps their pills is a prescription bottle of pills. Like
here are all the pieces. It must be suicide. Anyways, whether this is sus or not to
[music] them, finding the beetle does seem to light a fire under the Venita Park PD. They finally assign a patrol
supervisor, Michael Webb, to work the case. And in the early days, they do confirm
parts of Dawn's story. Linda's time card shows that she clocked out at 2:16 a.m.
on Monday, April 22nd. And Don's suspicions were right because she did hang back after work to talk to a guy
named Randy for a few minutes. He's the co-orker that Don says she's having an affair with, which is probably why she
was late coming home. But Randy tells police that the conversation was normal. And he expected to see her at their next
shift, which is later that same night. >> And even though she wasn't at work Monday night, he actually spotted her
car out early Tuesday morning when he left work. He saw her Beetle parked at this strip mall less than 2 mi from her
home. And Randy said that he recognized it instantly because the back bumper was
missing. And he even pulled up next to it to check it, but no one was inside. And police also talked to Dr. W. She
confirms that Linda did miss her appointment that day, but they connected later that Monday. Linda called sometime
between like 3:30 and 4:15 to apologize for being a no-show. She explained that she'd been sick. She slept through it
and like said she was heading to work soon. And then not long after that call, Dr. W, I guess, got a second call, but
she was busy or like her receptionist took a message or whatever, but the only thing the message was was just Linda's
work number. And then finally, there's that neighbor who says that he saw Linda's car drive back onto their street
Monday night at 8:00 p.m., more than an hour after she supposedly left for work,
just like Don said. Webb also documents a couple of unconfirmed sightings in the
days after Linda is reported missing. Like this woman named Vicki, [music] a neighbor of the Shermans. She apparently
tells police that she saw Linda take off with a suitcase and a man that she didn't recognize wearing the same blue
jersey that Don had described. And then Don says that he saw her riding in a van
with somebody and she ducked when he spotted her. So, does that mean that Dawn's telling the truth and she did
just run off with someone? >> Yeah, not so fast. I didn't say that. Yes, a lot of things on the surface look
good for Dawn. But if you go one layer deeper, >> always go a layer deeper. It stinks
[music] to high heaven. Starting with the car at the airport. According to Laura Higgins reporting, Officer Webb
pulls the parking log from the lot, which shows that the car had been sitting there since either Tuesday,
April 23rd, or maybe even Wednesday, April [music] 24th, and there is no record of her taking a flight. So, was
it her driving from home to the mall to the airport? And even if it was, why park at the airport if you're not taking
a flight? >> Also, was it even her driving? Because that neighbor witness who was outside at
8:00 talking to Dawn when the car her car came and went from the street, not as strong of a sighting of Linda as you
might think. He later tells police that he actually couldn't see who was driving. Didn't even know if it was a
man or a woman because I guess the driver seemed to be intentionally like hiding their face. So, it's probably not
her at 8. >> Yeah, we only have Don saying he saw her leave at 6:45. So really that last
confirmed time that she was alive at was whenever she called her therapist when she overslept, right?
>> Well, let's talk about that call to her therapist. If it happened as Dr. W said,
then yes, Linda was fine as of late afternoon, >> right? That was like 3:30 to 4:15,
[music] >> right? However, I don't know if that call was even real because the whole
dynamic with this counselor, therapist, whatever is super strange. [music] Now, I mentioned that Dawn and Linda
weren't just seeing Dr. W like together. They also spoke to her individually. [music] And that happened in person, but
also over the phone. They were actually on the phone with her a lot, especially Dawn and at like all hours of the day
and night. For instance, according to Dawn, he was on the phone with Dr. W from 900 p.m. to 100 a.m. the night that
he reported Linda missing. >> M that seems unorthodox >> to say the least, but she obviously had
a front row seat to what was going on between them, like whatever that call was. And she does agree to speak with
Officer Webb, at least about Linda given the circumstances. Now, she describes Linda as sentimental and steady, this
loving mother to Patty. And despite Don's accusations, she says that Linda denied having any kind of affair.
>> Okay. So maybe Don is just being paranoid. >> Well, no, he was actually right. So when
Officer Webb interviewed Randy, >> the coworker >> Mhm. he was pretty open about the whole
thing. He said that he and Linda had been involved for about 4 months and he really cares about her, but he'd been
clear with her that he wasn't planning on leaving his wife. Even though Linda had been telling him about her
intentions to leave Dawn. >> Oh, >> yeah. And not in like a vague, you know, maybe someday kind of way. She had a
plan in place, [music] one that her sister Fran knew about. So, I mean, it didn't take long for Fran's alarm bells
to start going off because she had been there for the whole tumultuous ride of their relationship, which started when
Linda and Don were just high schoolers. [music] Linda got pregnant with Patty when she was like 17, and she had to
finish high school with a baby, and her and Don were struggling to make ends meet, and things didn't improve as they
got older. Linda's family says that Dawn became physically and mentally abusive,
and court records show that Linda tried to leave him multiple times. She filed for divorce in 1977,
though that ends up getting dismissed when they reconcile a couple of years later. But by 1982, they reached a
breaking point and they split again. Linda even moved out with Patty that time and according to Laura Higgins
reporting, she filed for an order of protection that September, alleging that Dawn had threatened her and Patty. Now,
she told the court that he was mentally unstable, but then just a few weeks later, Linda informed the judge that she
and Don were trying to work things out. So, the two of them started seeing Dr. W
around that time. But it seems like Linda was finally trying to break the cycle because she actually filed for
divorce again on April 11th. And [music] this time, her family felt like it was different, that Linda seemed determined
to leave him for good. And we know that leaving is one of the most dangerous times for people in abusive
relationships. >> And yeah, and this one was serious. I mean, she was trying to find an
apartment. [music] She was having her mail rerouted to her sister Fran's house. Police also end up
finding a bunch of personal records in Linda's work locker. Things like Patty's birth certificate and report cards
stretching back to kindergarten. She had letters, momentos, family financial paperwork.
>> All things you'd want to take with you if you were starting over. >> Yeah. I mean, it was all stuff that she
had cleared out of her and Don's [music] joint safety deposit box. And Patty, her
daughter, thinks that Linda was stashing things there so that Dawn couldn't get to them. Although, I will say Don
actually knew, I guess, that she had moved all of her stuff to the work locker. And even after she went missing,
he never tried to go get any of it back. But all of that to say, she was being cautious and she was planning because
she knew that Dawn wasn't going to take her leaving. Well, but she never got the
chance to leave. Even though Patty is pretty sure that her dad knew the split was coming, Dawn wasn't actually served
with the divorce papers until [music] after Linda went missing. Now, all of this started with Randy, right? that he
told Webb about the divorce, but he also added some color to just how controlling
Dawn was with Linda. According to what Linda told him, Dawn had been recording her phone calls. And she told Randy that
she found the device rigged to a phone line in their basement. And it didn't even stop there. She said that Don had
been spying on the both of them, even using this thing that he called a big ear, which is basically like this long
range listening gadget. And when they talk to Dr. W, Dr. W backs that story up. In fact, she tells investigators
that Linda had brought some of the recording equipment that she found in their house along with some cassette
tapes to her office. And she still has them to turn over to police. But they don't even need to press play to confirm
that Dawn was monitoring Linda because when they confront Dawn about this in late May, he just straight up admits it.
>> What? Yeah. But I think in his mind, like he's very nonchalant about it. He's
just like, you know, marriage. And like he even brings Officer Webb down to the basement and like shows him his setup.
And at that time, he also walks Webb through some items that he claims are missing from the house. Items. I I
assume he's like, "Oh, look. She took these with her." >> But the thing that Webb notices most is
that most of Linda's belongings are still there. And Don has already boxed some of it up. He then pulls out this
short journal that he's been keeping at Dr. W's suggestion [music] detailing everything he can remember about the
days around Linda's disappearance. And so this is like when Web presses a little bit. He tells Don like, "Listen,
Linda's family thinks that you did something to her. So would you take a polygraph to prove them wrong?" Don
declines. He says that he had a bad experience with one during a burglary investigation. This is a charge that he
was later convicted of. Plus, he says that his lawyer told him not to. >> I didn't even know he had a lawyer.
>> I don't think investigators knew that either. So, working backwards, we don't
know how her car got to the airport or who was driving because the neighbor's sighting means pretty much nothing,
>> right? >> It's TBD what we think about Dr. W's account of getting a call from Linda.
So, if we take that out of the mix for a second, then really the last time anyone
who isn't Dawn put eyes on Linda is when she is leaving work in the early morning
hours of Monday headed home where she has a fight with her husband. >> Wait, didn't her daughter Patty see her
mom that morning when she took her to school? >> Well, kind of, but in a way that is
actually pretty disturbing in hindsight. In Dawn's version of events, he claimed
that Linda drove Patty to school that Monday like she did most mornings, but Patty told us that's not true. Don
actually brought her that day, which was basically unheard of, she said. And the
moment that is burned into Patty's mind now is her mom on the couch as she heads
out the door to school. She says that her mom's face was turned [music] towards the back cushions. She didn't
stir. She didn't say goodbye. And that is the last image she has of her because remember when Don picks her up from
school, he takes her to his mother's house and she ends up staying there for a couple of nights. So by the time Patty
gets back to her own home, her mom is a missing person. Now, as sus [music] as Dawn's behavior and his stories are,
it's the Patty of it all that has people so convinced that Linda didn't just walk
away. Everyone agrees that Linda was not going to leave Patty. [music] I mean, yeah.
You said that she had brought Patty with her last time she left Dawn. She was storing all those documents. Like, why
wouldn't she bring her? >> Exactly. Exactly. And Officer Web is keenly aware of this after talking to
everyone. So, the more that he learns about Linda, the more certain he becomes that she didn't just run [music] off and
that something is very, very wrong. And that's what keeps him so invested in the
case even after he's promoted to lieutenant. He follows up on tips. He checks out anything that might lead
somewhere. [music] He even subpoenas Dawn's phone records. Nothing really useful comes there. So,
he subpoenas his bank records where he does note that the day after Linda went missing, Dawn filled up his gas tank and
spent almost $16 at a hardware store. Although it's not clear what he bought, but it's like all smoke and no fire
because no matter how they try, what they cannot find is Linda. Did they ever get anything from searching the car or
the house? Like I imagine if something happened to her. >> Like it had to have happened in the
house and it seems like someone else was driving her car all around town, not her, right?
>> So as far as the house goes, Don won't give them permission to search. I mean,
he lets them inside that one time when he's showing them like the stuff and the recording equipment, but he won't let
them just like have at it >> and they must not be able to get a search warrant or maybe they don't even
try then because like it ends up being years before they get the chance to look through the house. As for the car, they
never impounded it or even secured it after it was found at the airport. So, make of that what you will. They just
like left it there like in the airport parking lot. That That's my understanding. I guess the next day they
let like Don, Linda's dad, and Sam just pick it up and drive it to the station themselves. So,
>> I'm sorry. They let her husband, the last person to have like confirmed to have seen her, have access to the car.
>> I know. So, part of me is like, you know, perhaps all this smoke and no fire was a beast of their own making.
>> Yeah. >> But a whole year ends up going by with no developments because of all of this.
And during that time, Dawn isn't exactly a grieving husband. He stands firm that Linda just left him
and Patty. And so, he takes a big step to sever ties with Linda about a year after she disappeared. That's when he
files his own divorce petition, claiming that Linda abandoned him. Oh, so now he's [music] divorcing her.
>> He's trying to. He's got the same guy, the same lawyer who advised him not to
take the polygraph. That guy's representing him now. He's this well-known local criminal defense lawyer
named Frank Analone. >> I'm sorry, Ashley. When do criminal defense attorneys, like local well-known
criminal defense attorneys, do divorce cases? >> That's what Linda's own lawyer was
wondering. Now, in fairness, the guy who helped her file for divorce before she went missing wasn't a divorce attorney
either. Frank Vat, her lawyer, specialized in real estate. So, I guess he took Linda on as a client through a
referral. So, we're like, you know, we're all stretching our skill set here. >> But, as he told Nah, in his experience,
criminal defense attorneys don't typically handle divorces unless there's some, >> you know, crime involved,
>> right? Yeah. That's like I don't know, the whole purpose of a criminal defense
attorney, >> right? Or maybe they'll take the case if they're like family friends. And I don't
know if that's what you would call Frank, Anelone, and Dawn, but they definitely had a connection because you
see, Analone had represented Dawn's mother, Audrey, when she killed his father. >> What?
>> Mhm. >> Okay, I need like a pause sign here. I need details on that right now.
>> I don't have a ton. Uh, what I know is that in February of 1974, police were called to the Sherman home and they
found 47year-old Charles Sherman shot to death at the breakfast nook there in their house.
>> Audrey and the kids told officers that they'd all been asleep, woke up to the
sound of a gunshot. And his death certificate says that he was shot in the back. So, I doubt anyone even tried to
like push suicide or anything. But if they were trying to say intruder, like that didn't stick either because when
police searched the house, they found a gun hidden inside of a heating duct. >> And Don was like in the house when this
happened. >> Yeah. As far as I know, all of the Sherman kids who still lived at home
were there. So his mom Audrey got indicted for first-degree murder. She ended up taking a plea deal and she only
served 6 months in jail. And it seems like prosecutors may have taken like possible family dynamics into account
because Don said that the shooting happened during one of their arguments and that they both struggled with
alcohol use disorder. >> All of that to say Don's choice of attorney strikes Vat, Linda's lawyer, as
odd. Like he remembers Linda coming to him scared, genuinely afraid of her husband. But he also does have this part
of him that wonders if she really did just take off to get rid of this guy or get away from this guy. Either way,
Vatarat is not about to let Dawn end the marriage while Linda is nowhere to be found. [music] So when Dawn's lawyer,
Analone, moves to finalize the case as uncontested in 1988, Vatar pushes back and the following year in June of 1989,
the whole thing just gets tossed. So on paper, the Shermans stay married, >> right? In practice, Don has already
moved on long before he even filed for divorce, by the way. [snorts] And guess who his first girlfriend is after Linda
disappears? Vicki. You remember Vicki, right? >> Wait, Vicky who? >> Vicky is the neighbor who had the like
supposed sighting of Linda after where she's like, "Oh yeah, I saw Linda and a man together."
>> Oh, yeah. One and the same. But I mean, his relationship with Vicki doesn't last
long. Dawn goes through a few girlfriends over the next few years, >> but by the late 80s, he wanted to settle
down and get remarried, which must have made his legal tie to Linda pretty inconvenient.
>> Hard to plan a wedding when your wife is still missing. >> If only she could turn back up, even if
it was just part of her, that would sure be helpful for Don, right? >> And what do you know? After more than 5
years of Linda being considered a missing person, a skull pops up in the strangest of places. But you won't
believe people's reaction to it. On Thursday, June 28th, 1990, two TWWA flight attendants are having lunch at
this restaurant called Kasa Gallardo, which is this Mexican restaurant in Bridgeton, which is 20 minutes away from
Bonita Park. And that's when they notice something outside the window laying under a bush. Clear as day, it is a
skull. The restaurant manager calls the Bridgetton PD, but according to police records, he also moves the skull. I know
because customers are like crowding around it. >> Oh, okay. >> So, he shows officers the original site
about 3 ft from the window on the east side of the building. Everything looks neat and undisturbed. And the landscaper
who like works that area tells police that he was there 9 days ago. Definitely didn't notice any skull.
>> You would remember that. >> Yeah. So, it seems like someone wanted this to be found. It's not buried.
[music] It's barely even tucked under the bush that it's found by. I mean, it's so deliberately placed that
officers wonder if it's some kind of youthful prank. Like maybe somebody dug it up and set it up there just to mess
with people. >> Wait, do they think it's fake? >> No, no, no. They definitely know that
it's real. There's even dirt on it. Like they can tell that it had been dug up. >> Okay.
>> But a police official told reporters at the time that I guess bodies were being
exumed from a nearby cemetery to make way for a Lambert airport extension project. And so seemingly because of
that, everyone just decides that there's no reason to suspect foul play. Okay. And the problem I have with that
explanation is that from everything we could find, which like a ton of media reports, that airport project that he's
like writing this off for, the one where like supposedly graves from the cemetery
were being uprooted, that didn't actually start until 1993. >> We're in 1990. >> Oh, yeah. And I mean, to be clear,
Washington Park, the cemetery, was in trouble long before the airport project. I guess it's one of St. Louis's oldest
historically black cemeteries and it had been the center of complaints about neglect and mismanagement for years. In
fact, according to St. Louis Post Dispatch reporter Yvon Samuel Kirkwood, bones had resurfaced there the year
before the skull was found. So, like not out of the picture, but the weird part is nobody seemed to like like frame that
as a prank. If anything, what was happening there was very serious. Families were raising alarms about
everything from overturned markers to bodies getting dumped in unmarked plots. The then state attorney general ended up
filing a civil fraud suit against the cemetery owner who ended up taking her own life before any of it could be
resolved. >> Okay. All of this background only makes this feel like less of a prank. Ashley,
>> I know. And I didn't find anything in official records or reporting that supports the idea of a prank. I mean,
unless I'm missing something, this just seems like a huge leap to take to like >> huge leap.
>> Someone must have dug this up. No, it's a prank. It's not even worth looking into to find out who this is, how this
got here, or if there's a mystery here to be solved. >> And like the this prank like didn't
happen before, didn't happen after, just a oneoff silly prank with nothing to go.
Okay. Either way, they at least do the bare minimum and officers canvas the area to see if, you know, is there
anything like anything else they can find? Did anyone see anything? But there is nobody who saw who left the skull or
even when exactly it got placed there. So, they photograph it, they bag it, they send it off to the St. Louis County
Medical Examiner, who is really only able to determine that it is the skull of a female of quote recent origin. But
that is pretty much all they can tell. So it gets shelved at the morg, unclaimed, unidentified.
Nobody connects it to a missing woman from Venita Park until September 1991. That's when someone is clearly tired of
waiting. If police can't see what was put right in front of them, then someone's going to make them see it. So,
on the morning of Friday, September 6th, this clerk at the Bonita Park Police Department is flipping through the mail
when she notices something odd. It's this unsealed envelope with no return address on it. And, you know, curious,
isn't like the normal mail she gets. She peaks inside and she sees this bright orange flyer. It's from the Kasagardo
restaurant advertising Super Bowl Sunday specials for the 1991 game back in January. Like the kind of promotional
thing you'd find sitting on a table next to chips and guac. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So on one side, happy
hour deals, drink promos, whatever. >> On the other side, there is just one sentence stamped in purple ink.
In all caps, it reads, quote, "The Bridgeton police have L. Sherman's skull." End quote.
>> What? When Lieutenant Webb sees this, he is blindsided because as he told Laura
Higgins, he hasn't heard a word about Bridgen police recovering a skull. So, he honestly figures that it must be a
mistake. But he heads over to their station to ask them anyways, [music] thinking that they're going to look at
him like he's lost his mind. And instead, they're like, "Oh, yeah, that skull that was found last year outside
that restaurant. Like, come right this way. We'll show you." So, Lieutenant Webb brings Linda's
dental records in for comparison, and the very next day, it is confirmed that skull is Linda's. Their case is now a
homicide. Can they tell how she died from her skull? >> No. I mean, the Emmy, like I said, was
only able to tell that it was female and like of recent origin. So, her death certificate just lists homicidal
violence as the cause. Actually, an anthropologist said that parts of the skull were broken, but it's not clear
whether that damage came before or after death. And if police know more than that, they're not sharing. Now, by the
time this is all happening, Patty is a teenager. So, during the week, she lives with her paternal grandmother, so she
can go to a school in a different district. And on the weekends, she stays with Don, who still lives in the same
Bonita Park house that he once shared with Linda. Same address, same furniture, new serious girlfriend there,
but not the woman that he was with when the skull was initially found. So maybe he wasn't trying to get remarried.
>> Oh, no. Patty told us that he definitely wanted to get married to that woman that
he was with at the time the skull was found. >> Okay. >> Something must have happened. The
relationship fell apart. Whatever. In my mind, that woman dodged a bullet. But he's with someone new now.
>> Okay. Now, Patty stayed connected with her mom's family, but it's like a complicated situation. They can't stand
her father since they think he killed Linda. [music] And Dawn's relatives won't talk about Linda
>> at all. So, Patty's really caught in the middle in all this. >> Totally. And like by this point, she
said she really had learned just to like keep her feelings to herself. When she was younger, she said she used to like
run to the mailbox, hoping that this letter was going to come from her mom and she would look for Linda everywhere
she went. But every time she tried asking her dad about this, all he would say is that he didn't know where she was
or he would imply that she just ran off with a boyfriend. And so, it didn't take
long for her to realize that mentioning her mom made things tense. >> But she never let go of the hope that
one day Linda would come back to her. But that hope got shattered on Sunday, September 8th of 1991.
That is a weekend where Patty is at her [music] dad's house for a visit and there's this knock on the door. And the
moment that she sees police standing outside, she said this wave of dread just washed over her.
>> So instead of answering it herself, she like runs to wake up her dad and his girlfriend from a nap. And after Don
talks to the officers for a few minutes, he comes into Patty's room and basically
tells her they found your mom. And then he turns around and goes back to his bedroom.
>> That's it. >> That's it. That's all he told her. >> No explanations, no comfort. I mean,
nothing. >> He doesn't even tell her that the only thing recovered was Linda's skull. Patty
actually has to learn that from her cousin who picks her up and brings her to Aunt Fran and Uncle Sam's house where
there like for the first time she hears the full story and she is angry because in her mind she knows exactly why Dawn
left out the detail about where her mother was found. You see, Kasa Gallardo isn't just some random restaurant. It is
like Dawn's second home. Patty told us that he went there five nights a week. He knew all of the staff. [music] They
literally had a hat rack set up for him with his name on it. And Patty spent much of her childhood there, like looked
after by bartenders while her dad drank just a few feet away. And get this, police learn that Dawn was at the
restaurant on the same exact day that Linda Skull was found. But he denies having [music] anything to do with her
death. He tells reporters that someone might be just trying to frame him, that whoever [music] left the school there
must have known that he was a regular. And he maintains that Linda just left with someone else and that whatever
happened to her happened to her after that and it wasn't his doing. Okay, genuine question here. If he's trying to
get away with murder, why leave her skull somewhere that points directly back to him? I mean, that's practically
gift wrapping an arrest, right? Yeah. I don't Again, I go back to this like this idea
of like you you have an intention, right? Like if you if you wanted her to be found, you make sure it goes
somewhere where you like know it will be found, you can like witness it being found, you know,
>> can confirm it. >> Yeah. I mean, like maybe that's it. If it's just all too contrived.
>> Well, and also there's like the like the red herring that's too obvious, right?
Like how could it have been? Like he goes here all the time. Like there's no way it could be him cuz he wouldn't have
left it here, right? Like it feels too stupid to be calculated. Like yeah, it it feels
like too >> maybe maybe it's arrogant. Like nothing has happened so far and it feels pretty
obvious that like he is lying about some like major points in seeing Linda, right? He has this girlfriend who
potentially gave a a sighting of her that may or may not have been real. and he hasn't been caught so far. Why would
it happen now? >> I don't know. I keep coming back to the fact that like usually like in cases where someone goes
missing and then they're found, all the detectives I've ever talked to have always said like look at where the thing
happened or where they're found because that's where someone feels most comfortable
>> like a regular hangout. >> So, I don't know why it's found there. I don't know like again it could mean a
million things but instead >> it could mean nothing. >> Yeah. But instead of getting lost in the
whatifs or trying to psychoanalyze Dawn, what investigators do then is they try to focus their attention on something
more tangible. Webb believes that the note was sent by somebody who really wanted police [music] to connect the
dots between the skull and Linda Sherman. So he sends the note and the envelope to the FBI lab, hoping that
there's some evidence on it that might tell them who sent it. But according to Laura Higgins, [music] nothing useful
comes back. No fingerprints, no saliva. Even the stamp kit used to mark the message is like the kind anyone could
buy at any office supply store. Then I think you still have to like keep looking backwards like who wins, if
that's even the word you want to use. Like if Linda is dead versus just missing.
>> Yeah. I mean the only one that it changes things for is Dawn. >> Mhm. but only in the sense that he could
get remarried, which he ultimately does a couple of years later. And then he goes on to have another daughter. But
police still aren't letting go of things just cuz they don't have anything physical. Nothing like no physical
evidence. They at least now have proof that she was murdered. More than just their suspicions, more than even the
stories they'd heard in the years before her skull was found. >> Wait, what stories?
>> Yes. So, at one point there was this ex of Dons's who told investigators this
bizarre story. She says that when they were living together, she had asked him to box up Linda's photos and belongings
because, right, he's telling everyone she ran off and she didn't want there to be any drama if Linda ever came back. I
guess she figured like having everything ready to go would just make it easier. But Dawn told her, "You don't need to
worry about that because I know that Linda's not coming back since [music] I killed her with my bare hands."
He just like came out and said that. >> That's what she said. Claims he even showed her this like green and white
aerial photo map thing and he pointed to a spot near a river or stream and said that Linda was buried there under a
concrete slab. [music] And listen, back then, police did even have this woman like try and wear a wire, have her go to
Dawn to get a confession, >> but when she did, Don wouldn't confirm or deny anything.
>> And unfortunately, she couldn't tell police exactly where it was that he pointed to.
>> But in that time, investigators had started focusing on this stretch of land, which was about 90 mi south of St.
Louis. And it's where Dawn's mother's side of the family is from. You know, it's a place that he spent plenty of
time hunting like turkey and deer, like a remote wooded terrain. And interestingly, when Lieutenant Webb paid
Don's aunt and uncle a visit down there, they mentioned that Don had actually showed them the exact kind of map, this
detailed aerial view of the area, which included their property. So they've always kind of wondered,
is that somewhere in there where the rest of Linda is? So now that her skull has been found, investigators have like
at least like some like momentum by right like proof, right? We're looking for something real here. So they make a
few trips to the area, even search it with cadaavver dogs, but they never end up finding anything, which like it kind
of got me wondering going back to like is Don too stupid to do this? Like for a second I was like, do you think there's
a chance that someone else I mean he's he's talking about this. He's showing people that someone else knew where she
was and put it there like knowing he would be there that day. Like I don't again nobody wins but like did someone
just like was this their way of getting people to know but then like nobody nobody knew.
It would literally be like a quiet nod only to Dawn. Yeah. But like bringing up like a different
person also makes me think about like I know it's it's very unsure but like the sighting of her car on the street like
he isn't driving the car there. So, who like we can't confirm it was Linda. We can't confirm it wasn't Linda, but
>> is there someone else that he was like ever working with? Because >> right like is there a second person?
>> I'm not saying it I'm not saying not him. But what about plus someone? >> Yeah. Like I I actually this kind of
like unravels later. I don't like I don't 100% believe this, but I do wonder if there's someone else. Even if there
was though, police are confident that like Don's at the heart of this, right? Like Don's responsible. Yeah. But in an
interview with Laura Higgins, Don insists that he's innocent still. He insists that he loved Linda. He mentions
an ex-girlfriend who told police he confessed, but he's like, "Oh, she just wanted the reward money." And bottom
line, he's like, "I just have no idea what happened to Linda." Although, he does throw out that he heard this rumor
that she was killed because of a cocaine ring at her workplace. Which, >> hold up, did I miss something? Like,
>> what cocaine ring? Everyone is like, "Where did this even [music] come from?" Lieutenant Webb has never
heard of a cocaine ring. Dawn has never said anything like that to him, the lead
investigator. So, it sounds like nonsense. Now, >> they're not finding the rest of Linda.
They do eventually have to release her skull, but Don doesn't even want it. So, it gets released to Linda's mother, and
the family arranges a burial, which Patty isn't invited to. Oh my god. Why? >> She said that like she still isn't sure.
Like maybe it was the tension between like Don's family and Linda's family. Maybe they thought it would just be too
painful for her. >> I mean, it's going to be painful. It's her mom. >> Yeah. Well, you wouldn't know it was her
mom from the gravestone, though. I guess it only identifies Linda as a daughter.
And somehow even like the birth year is wrong. >> But Linda doesn't even stay buried for
long. Webb is desperate for a real break, which isn't surprising. Like he has this suspicion that she the rest of
her is probably buried somewhere in this like general area, but like no specifics. Like every search they've
done hasn't turned up anything. So when he learns about this new advanced type of soil testing at this crime scene
archaeology conference in the late '9s, >> so specific. >> Yeah. Like it's one that might actually
help pinpoint a specific burial site. He just jumps [music] on it. So, in August
of 1999, Linda's skull is exumed and shipped to a college in Pennsylvania along with soil samples collected from
places that police think Linda might have been buried. >> Now, the first batch of samples is
examined that fall, and it helps like to start at least narrowing down the scope
of where they're looking. Although, web won't say to what extent it narrows down
in the media interviews, >> but they're at least eliminating areas, right? That that that's like progress.
Yeah. But it's slow and it's frustrating. And all the while, Patty has been living with her own growing
suspicions about her dad. Over the years, she does end up becoming convinced that her father killed her
mother. And it's beyond just the like obvious bright red flags that we've already talked about. There's something
about the anonymous letter and more specifically the materials used, the purple individual letter stamp text pad
and the like pre-stamped envelope. She says that those are the same kinds that her father kept. And she also learned
that some of Linda's personal belongings that Dawn swore Linda took with her, like that 76 necklace, were actually
still in the house. And what really haunts Patty is that morning, the last time she saw her mother, she started
having dreams that dragged that scene back into focus. Linda laying silently on the living room couch, perfectly
still, her face pressed into the cushions. An account that Dawn doesn't contradict when he even appears on
unsolved mysteries later. But Patty now believes that Linda was already dead before she walked out the door for
school. So, who do we think called Dr. W that afternoon? Then >> we asked Patty. She suspects that maybe
either Dr. W either had the dates mixed up or straight up lied. And like and Patty got the same weird vibe from the
whole situation of like like her, as you called it, unorthodox relationship as we
did. And if what Don relayed about their communication is true, like the frequent
phone calls at all hours, the level of involvement, Patty thinks that their relationship was she what she would say
is abnormal. [snorts] >> So what does Patty think happened? >> So Patty thinks or her theory is that if
Linda was killed at home that it [music] was quick and it was quiet. Maybe Dawn strangled her during the argument and
then she thinks that maybe he got some of his relatives to help cover it up. And strangulation is significant here
[music] in my mind because Patty told us that around the time Linda's remains were exumed, Dawn's second wife, who was
Patty's stepmother, got a restraining order against Dawn because she alleged that he strangled her. And remember how
I said that police couldn't actually search the Venita Park house for years, like a long time? It is this incident,
this assault that finally opened that door. Literally, once investigators heard about it and realized that Dawn
was out of the house, they figured that this second wife might be willing to let
them in. >> They were right. They ended up collecting a few things like the living
room couch cushions. >> What? He still had the same couch after all those years.
>> Girl, he did not change a thing about the place. But, you know, they collect it. Nothing comes of anything that they
collect. Nothing incriminating. I mean, the most incriminating thing that they could find would be Linda's remains. But
Patty doubts that those will ever be found. She believes that her father eventually dug up the skull from
wherever he originally buried Linda and planted it outside the bar. And she thinks that he either moved or scattered
the rest of her remains, which could explain why searches keep coming up empty. But that is all just speculation.
The only people who really know what happened are whoever killed Linda and anyone else who helped them. And the
investigator who basically devoted his life to trying to solve this, Lieutenant Webb, he died of pancreatic cancer in
2009. While Dawn maintained his innocence until his own death in 2015. So, both the lead detective and the only
suspect are gone along with Dawn's lawyer and the Bridgton investigator who chocked that whole skull thing up to
like cemetery relocations and probably a whole lot of other people are gone, too.
>> Mhm. >> The only people left fighting for Linda are her family and more recently us
>> because we actually tried reaching out to police for this episode, but right away we hit a wall. And it's a wall I'm
really concerned about because no one is claiming this case. >> What do you What do you mean no one's
claiming it? It's an unsolved homicide. Like it's listed as a homicide now. Like
there must be some police agency in charge of it. You think, but apparently about a decade ago, Venita Park PD was
absorbed into the North County Police [music] Cooperative, which is this like shared department that serves multiple
small cities. And for some reason after that, jurisdiction over Linda's case just becomes murky. The co-op says that
they can't find a full case file. Their attorney insists that the co-op is not the lead agency. And in fact, against
all evidence to the contrary, he told us that he would be surprised if Venita Park was ever the lead agency because a
department that small wouldn't have the resources. Okay. How would it basically be Lieutenant Webb's life's work with
two drawers full of files like his passion project he worked on this his like even after he got like promoted to
Lieutenant like his whole career. >> Yeah. With Venita Park PD >> and but but there's no
>> but but it wasn't theirs. >> It's like >> that doesn't make any sense. >> It's infuriating. Patty has even tried
going to the Venita Park mayor. She tried going to the Missouri Attorney General's office and everyone would meet
with her and tell her they cared, they wanted to help, >> and then communication would just stop
after that. >> Which is to Patty like this slap in the face like her mother has just been
forgotten >> or maybe worse, like doesn't even matter to people. And the fact is this case
should still be open. Yes, the prime suspect is dead, but no one was ever charged. And most of Linda's body was
never recovered. So even if it's too late to get justice in a courtroom and like Patty's like, I still deserve
answers. >> Yeah. So she's hoping like the goal of this and talking to us and still pushing
for her mother, she is hoping that someone close to Dawn, maybe an aging relative, a friend who has kept this
secret for decades, will finally speak up. Now, normally this is when I would tell everyone which police agency to
contact if you know anything about Linda's murder, but as everyone just heard, that's complicated. A co-op
captain suggested routing tips through St. Louis Regional Crimestoppers, but like
>> we know how Crimestoppers works. >> That's how I got here, folks. Like, Crimestoppers is a conduit. Like, what
they do is they take the tip and then they're supposed to pass it along to law enforcement to investigate. They are not
an investigating agency. So, I don't know how helpful that will be. >> I'm still going to put their info in the
show notes, but I also think it's worth reaching out directly to the co-op's general number if you know anything.
That is 314-4287374. [music] I mean, maybe even just a few calls or emails or letters showing them that
people are still paying attention to Linda's case and you care about Linda's case will convince them to take it up
even if they don't believe it's their responsibility. Like, someone just needs to care enough. And you guys can always
email us tips@auudiochuck.com. And just a reminder, if you or anyone you know is experiencing abuse, help is
available. You can contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 18007997233
or text start to 88788. You can find all the source material for our episode on our website
crimejunkkey.com. [music] And if you want to listen to more episodes like this, you want all of our
episodes completely adree, [music] be sure to join our fan club. You also get early access to new episodes every
single week and bonus content every single month. >> And you can follow us on Instagram @
crimejunkie podcast. We'll be back next week with a brand new episode.

In April 1985, 27-year-old Linda Sherman vanished from her home in Vinita Park, Missouri, just outside St. Louis County. Her husband, Don Sherman, told police she’d walked out after an argument, but Linda’s family doesn’t believe she would never leave behind her 9-year-old daughter, Patty. For five years, Linda remained missing. Then, in June 1990, a human skull appeared under a bush outside a Casa Gallardo restaurant in nearby Bridgeton, Missouri, and an anonymous letter sent to police would expose one of the most bizarre and chilling twists in Missouri true crime history.

Who placed Linda’s skull in public view? Did her husband’s dark past hold the key to her disappearance? And why, decades later, does no police department seem to claim responsibility for investigating her murder? Join Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat as they uncover the secrets behind one of St. Louis County’s most haunting cold cases.

If you have information about the murder of Linda Sherman, call the North County Police Cooperative at (314) 428-7374, or submit a tip through St. Louis Regional Crime Stoppers.

Key Episode Moments 0:00 - 0:30 — Intro 0:31 - 2:21 — Missing Report 2:22 - 3:23 — Last Day Timeline 3:24 - 5:49 — Beetle at Airport 5:50 - 8:04 — Coworker & Therapist 8:05 - 10:02 — Car Timeline Gaps 10:03 - 12:07 — Marriage & Divorce 12:08 - 14:32 — Control Allegations 14:33 - 17:27 — Recording Setup 17:28 - 19:03 — Patty’s Last Sight 19:04 - 20:22 — Evidence Not Secured 20:23 - 22:58 — Divorce Push 22:59 - 25:24 — Skull Found 25:25 - 29:10 — Restaurant Link 29:11 - 31:36 — Anonymous Letter 31:37 - 33:46 — Patty Learns 33:47 - 36:24 — Skull Questions 36:25 - 39:06 — Confession Claim 39:07 - 42:23 — Search Efforts 42:24 - 47:12 — Patty’s Theory 47:13 - 50:10 — Case Ownership 50:11 - 52:20 — Outro --------

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Brief Summary

Linda Sherman disappeared in 1985; her skull was found in 1990, leading to a homicide investigation but no charges were filed.

Key points

The Disappearance of Linda Sherman. Linda Sherman vanished under mysterious circumstances, leading to a web of intrigue and suspicion.
Dawn's Suspicious Behavior. Dawn's actions and statements raise questions about his involvement in Linda's disappearance.
The Search for Linda's Car. Linda's family discovers her car at the airport, but the mystery deepens.
The Discovery of Linda's Skull. After years of searching, a skull is found, leading to shocking revelations.
Patty Learns the Truth. Patty discovers the devastating news about her mother from a cousin, not her father.
Dawn's Alibi. Dawn claims he was framed after Linda's skull is found at his favorite restaurant.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

This wife and mother didn't just disappear into thin air.

Introduction to Linda Sherman's story.

0:12WatchNov 24, 2025

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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